1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to semiconductor chip manufacture aparati and, more particularly, to reconditioning Chemical Mechanical Polishing pads used in semiconductor manufacturing and methods thereof.
2. Background Description
Current Chemical-Mechanical (Chem-Mech) Polish (CMP) processes utilize a variety of polishing pads. Typically, these pads are of a urethane material and characterized as either soft or hard. A hard pad provides an optimum planar surface. However, during processing, hard pads have a tendency to glaze over with residuals and waste slurry. This glazing degrades pad life and polishing results.
To overcome this glazing, state of the art polishers include a conditioner mechanism and/or a high pressure rinse bar. Typically, the conditioner is a large (9") diamond-dust-plated disk. After polishing a wafer, the conditioning disk is rotated in a fixed position on the pad in order to abrade and remove the glaze from the pad. If a rinse bar is used, it is fixed to the surface of the tool and extends out over the pad to the center of the platen to provide a fanned spray of deionized (DI) water to the pad. The rinse bar is used with the conditioner, between polish cycles, to rinse off debris from conditioning from the pad, prior to the next polish cycle.
Conventional conditioning equipment is rarely used during the polish cycle. Also, since it is separate from the carrier, there is an inherent lag time between pad conditioning or rinsing the resuming polishing. This time lag allows airborne contaminants to recontaminate the pad before it polishes the wafer.